Fiat Justitia
by Lacuna Miyamoto
Summary: GWxSG1 crossover. To all those feverishly waiting for an update, I'm sorry to announce that this story will be taken down soon. I plan to put up a new edition, but it will be quite different. Thank you for your love and reviews.
1. Beginnings

**Fiat justitia et ruat caelum**

Let justice be done though the heavens fall

Between being a teenage super terrorist and a refugee in the SGC, not to mention a host for a symbiote that's lost it's mind, Life is going to kill poor Duo.

The gods are whipping something up that may change Duo's life for all of time and doom earth at the hands of a new Gou'uld Superlord that's surpassed Time.

1x2 if you squint while standing on your head.

All characters are property of their respectful owners; I own nothing but my soul

That's right! I have not sold it, but I'm damned anyway!

Duo Maxwell was a handsome teenager dressed in almost all black except for the open denim jacket he had on, the long sleeves rolled back to his elbows. The shirt he wore underneath it was a deep black, his jeans were stonewashed and the black sneakers were worn. Duo Maxwell had a hip-length wave of hair, the soft hazelnut brown woven into a braid, and, around his smooth neck, there was a gleam of gold, the chain that held a golden cross.

His bright violet eyes shone with an insanity that, in itself, demanded a respect. An orphan since a very early age, Duo grew up on the streets learning to survive anyway how. At an age of around twelve or so, Duo became a soldier. He went to war and killed. Duo Maxwell was a handsome teenager and black ops skilled enough to take on an entire base alone—and get out alive.

At present, Duo ran down gold, triangular hallways, completely lost as to where he was; he was only relaying on his training: get out of unknown territory, get into known territory, reestablish communication, and kill anything that got in his way. So far, he'd met no opposition—but it was only a matter of time until that changed, in fact; it should have happened already. Whoever occupied this place must have had their attention on something else. Distant, loud, and familiar sounds that his ears picked up now and then gave him a good hint as to what that something was.

The loud, metallic, rhythmic sound of soldiers marching in formation made Duo quickly search for a hiding place. He swore silently to himself—he'd gone and caught himself in the open.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! He snarled, diving into a crevice along the wall. He prayed to his lucky stars, his angels, and to his god of death, that they wouldn't see him. That was when Duo saw them. Three good sized men in bulky, showy armor walked past; each one holding a six foot staff with a almond shaped bulge at both ends. Duo balked.

_Since when did Oz wear this shit? Come to think of it, when did they have gold, freaky shaped maze tunnels either? And what happened to guns?_

Something knocked the wind out of Duo. One of the men had seen Duo and had rammed the staff into his stomach. Black and gray smeared across Duo's vision lighting fast and was gone.

"_Tau'ri!_" it snarled at him. He, as the soldier seemed to be male, raised the weapon level with Duo's head. Duo stared incomprehensibly at it. The bulge opened up and whistled with energy.

Duo's pistol ricocheted in his grip, his hand following its path with a familiarity that shouldn't be known to a mere sixteen-year-old. Something shrilled and forced its way between Duo's lips. Becoming enraged at the fact that he'd been so rudely violated, Duo fired upon the remaining soldiers without hesitation, killing them instantaneously. More shrills erupted as Duo's hidden switchblade went to work.

"What the fuck…?" Duo whispered aloud, his face screwing up into a look of disgust as he squatted down to examine the things he'd just killed, hanging his hands between his knees. The things, leaking green blood, looked something like strange fish—long and slick, the creatures had fins and evil looking jaws. Was this inside him? Duo's stomach lurched and he spun on his heel, pushing his worries into the back of his mind. Priorities, he reminded himself.

Duo came to an unoccupied room and slid inside for a breather, to try to get a bearing on where he was. He whistled in amazement. The room was filled entirely with strange contraptions. He couldn't recognize a single damn thing.

"What is this? Sci-fi 101? Mad doctor conspiracy?" Duo scowled, picking at something that glowed dully. His attention remained equally distributed around the room, and he remained wary of the things he fondled with curiosity.

"Jack, we have to hurry!" Duo stiffened at the words; English. The soldiers from before had spoken "Tau'ri" before trying to smear him off the plane of existence—that sure as hell wasn't English—none that he knew at least.

"I know that, Daniel!" The pounding of feet grew louder. Whoever was coming was obviously coming this way. Duo noted that there was no accompanying sound of the heavy armor as the people Duo had taken out before.

Duo decided to take a chance. Flipping the back of the denim jacket he had on, Duo rested his hand on the gun handle. He slid his left foot back and, falling into a defensive stance, hoped that he wasn't doing something mindblowingly stupid.

_ Stupidity, Maxwell, is something you bathe in. It's part of you like a skin. You being intelligent is itself the harbinger of the end._ One of Wufei's blatant, yet still ever eloquent insults bored its way into his mind. Duo laughed at the memory and muttered to himself quietly.

"That's because when I'm being smart it involves A grade explosives." Duo slid back into reality and focused his eyes on the door. Someone skidded past, but their hand caught the doorframe just in time and they forced themselves to backtrack, nearly plowing over the poor dude behind him. The first one was male, in his forties, had graying hair, and wore an olive-gray-green uniform. Weapons were strapped to him—weapons Duo recognized. The second one, also male, was pathetically human. He wore glasses and the same uniform as the first, though it seemed awkward on him; like it didn't fit right even if it was the right size. Duo knew soldiers and this one wasn't one. At least, he wasn't trained as one. Both paused at the sight of Duo.

"Who are you?" the older one asked. Duo was surprised at his tone, it was light. Lighter than a person normally was when holding an automatic weapon in one hand. That was the one who'd spoken to 'Daniel', meaning the older one was Jack.

"Uhh… I don't think I want to tell you…" Duo said slowly, to get the message across. He'd met enough soldiers who'd had trouble with that. The blond haired, Daniel who had been scanning the room, darted off after finding the object of his desire. Duo cast a glance at him as he ran to a wall and began pressing at it with his fingertips. Duo slowly turned back to Jack, who was looking at him curiously. Duo let his eyes lingering behind.

"Poking walls. Okay, an odd hobby." An unseen mist seemed to be flowing into the room. Jack snorted. He seemed to find Duo's words funny. The mist started to tickle at Duo's mind. A noise made Duo spin around, training his gun on the back of Daniel's head.

"Hey! Hey, hey, no! Bad boy! Down!" Duo heard Jack's gun click. The wall was glowing, opening up. The mist started choking Duo and his knees buckled, but he managed to keep himself on his feet, even if he was doubled over. Bringing both palms to his forehead, Duo heard his gun clatter to the floor. It sounded like a broken echo to him. Everything rushed around him and, groaning, the world tilted.

Jack stared at the kid as he toppled over. Daniel skidded over and knelt beside him searching for a pulse. Jack moved and helped Daniel flip the boy onto his back. He was so young—couldn't be more than seventeen. So what the hell was he doing in a Goa'uld ship? He looked human—and that didn't mean much, but he was also wearing jeans—which, as of this time was not being manufactured in any other parts of the universe other than Earth.

"Ummm… Jack, I know I'm not an expert at these kind of things and I could be just getting excited over nothing…" Daniel started slowly.

"The point, Daniel, if you'd please."

"Jack… is it just me or is his gun a little weird looking?" Daniel was holding the boy's gun in his hands. Gingerly snatching it away from the archeologist, Jack looked it over.

"Yeah… it's definitely a pistol, but it is a qualified weird. Upgrade maybe? Not snakehead for sure…" both looked down at the unconscious boy. These kind of things always had to happen, didn't they?

Duo was flouting in water. He felt no pressure from the unseen liquid, however. He was merely hanging in an abyss, unknown. Opening his eyes he found himself above a field. Just a field that went on forever and… a tree. A large, gnarled and knotted, dead, black tree. It branched out like a many-fingered hand up for the sky, for heaven and god, for redemption, for peace of mind.

Ravens sat silently among its branches, while black roses clawed their way up its trunk like ivy. Duo drifted down to the ground and found that a long scythe rested against the trunk, it's blade a wicked claw. Everything was dark, as if just before a violent storm; the entire sky was the same solid blue-gray. Duo looked at everything dully. A figure stepped out from behind the tree. Duo began coughing out of surprise, his eyes tracing over the ghost that had haunted his nightmares for years on end. The long golden, sand blond hair, the large blue eyes, the skinny, half starved body… but this time it wasn't a ghost… He wasn't a ghost. He was alive again, the only person who'd bothered to try and dig him out of the ruin that had been his home, to hold him and tell him that it would all be okay… Solo was alive again, even for this short time.

"S-Solo…?" Solo scowled.

"_No, Tau'ri. This is purely an image I took from your memory. It is merely a skin, nothing more._" The scenario seemed to come out of some sick Sci-fi B movie. Now, normally, Duo loved B movies like the best of them, but he also enjoyed it when they didn't involve mental anguish—real life dished out enough of it to him.

"What!" Duo's response was sharp as a knife. His shock was starting to seep away, turning into a rage that, untamed, would eventually ignite into something fierce.

"_I will not repeat myself, Tau'ri. I am quite angry that you killed my host…_" It hissed, lips curling back, showing white teeth.

"Host? So what? You were that hideous deformed fish? What do you want?" Duo growled, "and fuck, choose a different 'skin'." He continued, waving an angry hand. 'Solo' scowled again at Duo's, other than pissed behavior, completely indifferent and unimpressed behavior. When looking to insight fear into your victims nothing pissed you off quite like total indifference.

"_I will not. And what I want is your body. You have a very, very nice one._" 'Solo' purred evilly. Duo gave him the bird. 'Solo' shook his head and smiled grimly, as if amused at Duo's show of defiance.

"_What a temper. You can not fight it. I am here and I am staying._"

"Fuck you!" Duo blurted, in an 'I-don't-give-a-damn-what-you-say' tone, "Shinigami can fight whatever he goddamn feels like, fish-shit."

"_Shinigami. Interesting. Hmm. But alas, no, you can not fight it,_" Solo strode forward, his eyes glowing, throwing his hand up in front of him like a puppet-master pulling stings, "_because I now own this body, Tau'ri!_" Duo's body burned with an incomparable fire and he could see his prison starting to rise; waiting to swallow him in it's wicked maw, teeth dripping with saliva as if it truly was some living beast.

Duo Maxwell smiled.

Jack shot a nervous look over his shoulder as the boy that was draped over his back began shaking violently, quickly becoming savage convulsions. Jack looked over to Daniel for help and they leaned Duo up against a wall. His jaw was clenched tight and his fists curled, nearly drawing blood. Jack and Daniel looked at each other, worried, but the convulsions ended as suddenly as they started. Duo's eyes fluttered open.

"_Itai…Ore wa ima atama ga itai n da…_" he moaned quietly. Letting out a low sigh, Duo brushed a hand over his forehead, then looked up at Jack and Daniel.

"Thank you, for your help… I am… Shinigami…" he grinned wildly at the two very confused men. Something about his grin made the two men nervous, something perceptively evil lurked behind the flashing teeth; an evil that still held the innocence of a child—and yet… didn't.

"Yeah, um, I'm Jack and this is Spacemonkey…" Jack introduced, jabbing a thumb in Daniel's direction, detached. Daniel got a flabbergasted look, as if Jack had said something completely out of the ordinary.

"Jack!" he hissed, turning red from the indignity of it all. Jack held up both hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay, I get it… Daniel… sorry…jeeze…" this was followed shortly by an awkward cough that sounded shockingly similar to "spacemonkey".

"Pleasure. However, could I ask you to please give me a hand? I seem to have lost the ability to stand for the time being…" Shinigami's voice was unafraid and unstressed as if things like this happened regularly. Jack and Daniel looked at each other yet again.

"Do you have any other name besides Shinigami?" Daniel asked the boy that was being given a piggyback ride by Jack through the long winding halls. Jack was grumbling about pack mules and how he felt sorry for them as Shinigami conversed with Daniel.

"Why? Does Shinigami make you nervous?" Shinigami laughed as if he seemed pleased at the thought. Daniel was determined not to loose face as he shivered on the inside.

"Um… Nooooo… it's… just not a very normal name, that's all…" Daniel answered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Shinigami chuckled cruelly and eyed Daniel with scrutiny before ripping his eyes away and focusing them on the wall just behind Daniel's head.

"Sometimes… I am called Duo…" he said quietly, face darkening; but, then he smiled reassuringly, in a disarming way that one couldn't help but trust and, at the same time, stay wary of.

"Hey, guys. Shouldn't we like, oh, I don't know… shut up! We are on a Goa'uld ship, y'know." Jack hissed, twisting his head around to eye both of them.

"_Oya, oya!_" Shinigami was looking gleefully over Jack's shoulder. Jack and Daniel looked at the three Jaffa partrol group ahead of them.

"What did I tell you?" Jack snapped.

"_Tau'ri! Release me!_" Bellowed 'Solo', his face twisted ugly in rage as he tried to break free of his chains. The ravens in the tree seemed to eye him hungrily, so silently patient for the time they could act…

"Say pretty please." Duo snapped, leaning against the tree. 'Solo' rattled his chains loudly, taking advantage of the minor slack they had to throw himself against the bars made from the blades of swords. A loud metallic clang ushered sparks. 'Solo' gave a loathsome hiss as the metal cut a gash into his unprotected cheek, splitting the soft flesh wide open.

"_Never, Tau'ri! How can you confine me this way? You are no more then a mere mortal fool!_" the voice resonated like an echo through the vast emptiness, causing the ravens to ruffle their feathers.

"Aww…" Duo simpered with a look of insincere pity on his face, "who told you that…?" 'Solo' bared his teeth and continued to writhe and twist, searching for some sort of weakness or break in the prison he was in, but the found none.

"…What are you?" Duo asked. 'Solo' didn't answer. Duo slowly stood and grabbed the scythe from its place against the tree. He walked over to where the intruder of his mind was imprisoned; a circle of swords that had pushed their way out of the ground like a plant, within the circle chains had sprouted and wrapped themselves around 'Solo', who was sitting, cross-legged in the middle. When Duo stood before him, Duo thrust the shaft of the scythe into the ground with force.

"Answer me!" he roared. Though he showed no weakness of fear, 'Solo' complied, even daring to look up into Duo's flashing eyes.

"_I am a Goa'uld. A being that takes other creatures over as hosts. **You **killed my former host. I was forced to take over your body or die._" 'Solo' said dryly, eyeing Duo with more hate than it was possible to voice.

"Well, I don't think it was very nice to try and take over my body and lock me away. And look what you did! You made put my body on Autopilot! Dunno how that's possible…" Duo murmured, crossing his ankles as he leaned against the scythe; scratching the side of his head.

"_It is how we are taught! Tau'ri are scum! Gou'uld are gods! We are to establish dominance over our hosts!_" 'Solo' cried out, cutting himself again against the edge of a sword at which he'd thrown himself.

"Well, that's not a very good way to make friends. If you needed help, you could've just asked…" 'Solo' bristled.

"_How!_"

"…Good point. But how about this," Duo squatted down, coming to eye level with the flustered, enraged alien sitting captive in his cage, "you forget this whole dominance thing, and maybe, if you're a good boy, we can be friends." Duo rested the scythe against his shoulder and folded his hands under his chin. The Gou'uld leaned forward and set a steady gaze on Duo.

"_…No,_" it said simply.

"Well, then you're screwed buddy, cuz you're not getting out of there until you say 'yes'." Duo sighed, pulling his hands apart and holding them out to the sides, shrugging. Grabbing the scythe again, Duo used it to pull himself up. Walking over to, and flopping down against the tree, Duo crossed his wrists over the shaft and leaned back, the rose ivy scuttling out of the way as they had before.

"I'm ready to wait—I won't like it, mind you; I hate sitting still, —but I'm ready to. The question is, are you ready to spend the rest of your life in chains? I know from personal experience that it is not very fun." 'Solo' shook his head once, savagely, as if to rid his head of bad images. Then he stilled and stared off into the distance, thinking.

"_…Fine. I…accept…_" he said finally. Such a declaration seemed to have been a horrible blow to his pride. The swords withdrew back into the ground and the chains released their hold on him, also sinking back into the dirt. Still, 'Solo' sat there, unsure of what to do next.

"Hey," Duo said, jerking his head and patting the ground next to him. 'Solo' obeyed, taking a spot under the tree next to Duo.

"So… what's your name?" Duo asked, supporting himself with his arms and staring off into the horizon.

"_…Rain'aok…_" he grumbled.

"Rain'aok, huh?" Duo smiled.

"Ya, Hello!" Duo suddenly blurted, sitting up quickly. Jack tore his head back just in time, saving himself a nasty gash on his forehead. Jack, very carefully, and Daniel stared at Duo, both because of his sudden movement and his sudden change of attitude.

"How'd I get here? Oh, yeah. I remember." Looking around, Duo saw that he was no longer in one of the tunnels, but as smaller, two, maybe three room ship, all of which Duo could clearly see from where he was. Well, he had his body back so that was a silver line… first things first. Duo checked his braid to see if it was all right. Jack was waving a hand in front of his face.

"Woo hoo, Shinigami… anybody home?" Jack's voice was light and he whistled a short note after it.

"We're all sleeping." Duo replied airily, waving a hand. Jack stopped waving and looked at Daniel.

"I think I like this kid." Daniel put his hands on his hips and glared at Jack, who rolled his eyes at the agitated archaeologist in front of him. Jack held up his hands in silent surrender.

"Okay, okay! Hey, Shinigami!--"

"Duo. Duo Maxwell," Duo interrupted, "Duo is my name; I run, I hide, I never tell a lie." Jack blinked and Daniel frowned. Sudden changes in names was not the most reassuring sign of metal stability, but then, what was? Still…

"Okay… um…Duo, I have to ask you something." Jack announced, wringing his hands together. Duo tilted his head to one side curiously; blinking innocently.

"Yes?"

"Are you Goa'uld?" Jack asked levelly, dropping his hands to his sides. Daniel brought his palm to his forehead with a slap. Did Jack take nothing seriously?

"Goa'uld? Now where have I heard that before?" Duo muttered, tapping his chin with his index finger.

'**_Shinigami, you fool! I am Goa'uld!_**' Rain'aok spat, his voice echoing out of the back corners of Duo's mind. Duo blinked.

"Oh! You mean the brain hijacking fish-worms? No. But I got one." Duo blinked, pointing to his temple. Jack and Daniel flinched visibly. Duo read their reactions correctly.

"Oh, don't worry, mine's on a leash." Duo hummed, smiling in his superiority

'**_Leash! What happened to the no-dominant, neutral, symbiotic relationship?_**' Rain'aok choked; Duo could see it bristle in a non-visual way.

"Oh, bite me. You started this. Besides; it's my body." Duo snorted, crossing his arms and turning his head away, arrogantly.

'**_Well, if you would just be a normal host, it would be my body, Doofus._**' Rain'aok muttered, apparently he was still bitter about not being able to instate a two-man tyranny over his host.

"Normal is a foreign language. …Did you just use the word 'doofus'?" the last statement held a mixture of shock and amusement that made Rain'aok want to claw out his eyes.

'_…**This is your fault!**_' he snarled pointing an accusing finger at Duo.

"My fault? You know, it's at this point in time that I realize: everything's my fault." Duo scoffed, placing a stung hand over his chest.

'**_It is your fault, Shinigami!_**'

"You're the one with the god complex!"

'**_You call yourself Shinigami!_**' Rain'aok slung back, too arrogant that he had already fallen into the trap Duo had laid.

"Touché. Can you speak Japanese? Whatever. I'm not listening to you anymore." Duo said, plugging his ears.

'**_I AM IN YOUR HEAD, FOOL!_**' Rain'aok raged throwing something that surpassed the normal temper-tantrum.

"Not listening!" Duo hummed.

'**_I am Shinigami. I have the intelligence of a warm apple strudel._**'

"That is cruel. But… in a familiar cruel, y'know?" Duo gained a nostalgic look, "having my intelligence compared to food items is such a heart-warming experience for me… such fond memories…" his voice held a thickness, as if Duo was about to burst into tears of joy.

'**_NO, I do not know, nor do I ever want to know!_**' Rain'aok hissed, seething from his very pores. Duo cackled before proceeding to calmly explain to Rai-chan the joys of being verbally abused by two of the four people he spent his time with. Quatre was too nice and Trowa just plain hated talking; so did Heero, but he made exceptions for soul crushing insults.

Meanwhile, Jack and Daniel were staring open mouthed at Duo and his one-sided conversation. Not that it wasn't entertaining or anything, just that it was… very, very… disturbing.

"Okay, this is odd. I have no idea what to make of this." Daniel said, pulling off his glasses and rubbing one eye with the palm of his hand.

"Odd? Hell, this far out twilight zone. It doesn't look like the snake can do much… think it's all show? I mean I don't think the snakes are that smart…" Jack goggled, scratching the back of his head.

The ring inlayed into the middle of the floor glowed a light blue and five or so rings came down from the ceiling, hovering about a foot apart above the floor. Inside of the rings a blue light flashed and the rings vanished, leaving three people standing there. A tall black man with a gold symbol on his forehead, a blond woman, and an almost bald, old man who looked about sixty. The old man ran to the front of the ship and it hummed as he started it up. Only the fact that Duo was used to constant sudden acceleration kept him from falling over.

"Who's tha—" the woman started, but she was cut off by the ship as it shook violently. Duo nearly squealed with joy, Daredevil tactics was a hobby of his that struck terror into the inexperienced heart.

'**Holy Suns of Ra… they just blew it up…**' Rain'aok sounded thunderstruck, if not a little peeved.

"So it would seem…" Duo said silently; it wasn't something he hadn't seen before. It dulled the effect when it wasn't you who had set the charge.

'**We have just been bested by five Tau'ri… that is…impressive as hell, actually. If not incomprehensibly pathetic.**' Rain'aok scowled in distaste.

"Oh… really…? Should I tell them this? Hmm?" Duo prodded mischievously, mentally wrinnging his hands together and cackling.

'**If you do… I swear I will…I will…I will think of something!**' he stammered lamely, pathetically trying to think of a threat that he could actually follow up on. When you have no control over the body you're inhabiting, it was a surprisingly hard task.

"What's a Gou'uld doing here?" the balding man asked sharply coming to stand next to everyone else, who'd stationed themselves in the main room. Oh, yeah, the man was pissed.

"Oh, hi Jacob! Well you see—" Jack started, jumping up and clapping his hands together.

"He's Gou'uld?" The blond woman seemed surprised and she peered at Duo closely. He was suddenly reminded of a blond Noin—she be no gender. The female soldier was loyal (to Zechs alone), and spunky, and had a horrible way of making everything out exactly the way it was. There is no gender on the battlefield. Yeah, sorry Noin, but a chick has breasts even if she does have a gun. Duo was just giving her a hard time though, he knew what she meant, simple enough, death doesn't discriminate. In war no one doesn't shoot a woman cuz she's got a lumpy chest. Now where was he?

"I—" Duo stood weakly, the muscle legs giving off minute spasms under his clothes from the earlier battle with his new companion—friend was too strong a word, and tried to include himself in the conversation. It was about him after all.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now? What the fuck were you thinking!" Jacob demanded. Jack was wincing under Jacob's harsh scolding. Duo sighed, sat himself down again, and began digging through his pockets. Finally he retrieved the object of his desire; something that looked a lot like an MP3 player. Putting the earphones in his, well, ears, Duo turned it on and set on full volume to drown out the arguing around him.

_Why does it feel like night today?  
Something in here's not right today.  
Why am I so uptight today?  
Paranoia's all I got left  
I don't know what stressed me first  
Or how the pressure was fed  
But I know just what it feels like  
To have a voice in the back of my head  
Like a face that I hold inside  
A face that awakes when I close my eyes  
A face watches every time I lie  
A face that laughs every time I fall  
(And watches everything)_

'**_What is that awful noise? Why is this man screaming about voices and faces? Do the Tau'ri have such mental dementia often? _**' Rain'aok asked scornfully.

'_It's called music, Rai-chan. And to answer your other question, yes._' Duo replied nonchalant.

'**_Rai-chan?_**' Rain'aok asked in some state of disgust.

'_Just because you're living in my head doesn't mean you escape the curse of the nickname._' Duo chided, mentally waggling a finger.

'**_I despise you._**' Rain'aok shot back, sending him a mental image of Duo's head popping. Duo just rolled his eyes.

"_It's a sickness. Now quiet._"

_So I know that when it's time to sink or swim  
That the face inside is hearing me  
Right beneath my skin_

_It's like I'm paranoid lookin' over my back  
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head  
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within  
It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin—_

The music was cut off violently as Jacob yanked the earphones out, completely disregarding Duo's personal space; though, with his disregard for others personal space, Duo didn't really have the right to complain.

"WHAT?" he snapped, shooting a heated glare at the man who bore the same look. His music was one of the few things he was protective about—which meant he was very overprotective of it.

"Who are you?" Jacob demanded, Duo's music set clutched tightly in his claws. The others were listening curiously behind him.

"Depends on who's talking to me. Gimme back my music!" Jacob didn't, which made Duo rather sour.

"Humor me." He snapped, locking onto Duo's eyes.

"Duo Maxwell. Shinigami. Baka and occasionally much ruder things. Gim-me!" Duo was seconds away from seriously injuring the man.

"Where are you from?" Jacob continued. Being a father, he knew the rules of teenagers. Sammie, after all, had been one hell of a teenager. He still had nightmares.

"L2. GIM-ME!" Duo ordered, thrusting his hand out.

"Where's that?" he asked again.

"Depends on where I am. Gim-me. Puh-leeze!" Jacob cleared his throat loudly. It was apparent to the others that Duo dealt with these sorts of situations often because Jacob needn't do more.

"The L2 Colony orbits the Earth Sphere Unified Nations. Now gim—"

"Earth?" Daniel interrupted. Duo crossed his arms, glaring at him and he gave a sheepish smile.

"Yes, earth. Now—" Yet again, Duo was cut off, and he wasn't an inch closer to reclaiming what was his.

"The only thing orbiting earth are satellites, garbage from launches, and the moon." Sam cut him off. Duo sent her a glare as well. Sam didn't shy away as easily as Daniel did.

"Since when? After the first colony went up, they changed the calendars to AC; After Colonization or After Colony or maybe it was After Calendar. I don't know, I never cared. That was a hundred and ninety-five years ago. What rock have you been living under?" Duo hissed, fingers digging into fabric on the inside of his elbows, locking them in place so as not to do anything stupid in his deteriorating patience.

"You don't understand. There's nothing like that. Humans haven't developed that far yet." Jacob explained in a voice underlined with irritation.

"Well, we must be talking about a different earth then, buddy." Duo scowled, his fingers pressed deeper into the cloth until Duo could feel the burn of his nails against his skin even through the shirtsleeve that was just long enough.

"Did humans evolve on the earth you speak of?" the black man asked levelly, surprising Duo. Duo's surprise, however, was quickly engulfed by his temper before it could leave its mark.

"Good one, Teal'c." Jack whispered, elbowing him gently in the ribs. Teal'c raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing.

"Yes, okay! They did!" he cried, throwing his arms up in the air. Everyone looked at each other. Duo looked at everyone looking at another, trying to find out who was going to vocalize the choice piece of information they had to him. He snapped.

"WHAT?" Duo blurted, getting fed up with this. It was like playing, or attempting to play, a game of charades with Trowa. Which was actually the only form of communication Duo could use with the guy and he made it harder than it was possible to make.

"Then your earth and our earth are one and the same." Duo just gave them a non-comprehending look. That look just made them all feel a little guilty inside.

'**_Shinigami…_**'

"**_WHAT!_**" Duo shouted at the empty space next to him. Rain'aok was unfazed by Duo's hostile tone.

'**_It would seem that either one of you are wrong in the assumption that humans evolved on "your" planet, or perhaps you have come from another time, far in the future._**' Rain'aok offered helpfully.

"That's stupid! Time travel is impossible!" Duo snapped, gnashing his teeth.

"Improbable," Jack coughed, waving a finger back and forth, motioning to the people around him, "we've managed it." Duo stared at him, his jaw hanging open an inch.

"Peachy keen." He muttered hoarsely, his voice breaking. Suddenly, his music didn't mean a goddamn thing.

A/N: Servus

I hope you liked the first chapter… I know it's really crappy… I would really be happy to know if I should keep trying or just give up cuz I'm hopeless… but I'm still gonna post more chapters regardless. -shrugs- -giggles- I got a poster chapted! Wait… er… Chapter posted! Yippe! Oh, and I just got bored with Duo's normal attire and I'm going through a open denim jackets on guys faze. Like it? Hate it? Flammers welcomed with open arms. I need to practice for when I go to hell anyway.

Ja Mata Ne


	2. Far from Home

OH MY GOD! Sorry for not updating for so long-It's just that I don't have the opportunity to do so very often. We don't have any computers in this house I can do it with. Forgiveness please. Bows

Here is the next chapter. FINALLY.

Duo sat on the bed in a small, sparsely decorated 'guest' room in the SGC, one hand on a knee, the other hand covered half of his face, and the elbow rested on the other knee. He hadn't moved since he'd sat down after being marched there directly after stumbling out of the StarGate. He had a lot to think about after all, and had a lot to absorb in a short time.

General Hammond tore his eyes off of the screen and spun around in his swivel chair. He looked around at his best team plus the ambassador to earth. All were seated around the long wooden table in the conference room.

"Could anyone please explain to me what's going on?" the chubby bald man asked calmly, raising an eyebrow. His voice was light, sure, but that, in this sort of situation, was not a good sign.

"Well… um… it's a little complicated sir…" Jack stuttered, making undecipherable motions with his hands, if they adhered to the subject at all. Most of the people in the room had to fight back the desire to roll their eyes.

"_I don't think the boy's been a host for very long, George. There's almost no naquedah in his blood,_" Selmac, Jacob's symbiote, explained, "_another thing, I have never seen a relationship between a Goa'uld symbiote and a host like theirs before. It's as if the symbiote can't take over the body._" Selmac sounded perplexed and furrowed Jacob's brow. Hammond nodded and began turning possibilities over in his mind.

"Yes, Jack?" Hammond sighed, kneading his brow with his knuckles. Jack stopped waving his arms around like a madman and placed them obediently on the table, clearing his throat loudly.

"On the ship, he had like this seizure moment, and then he said something—" Jack started, snapping his hands up as if imitating an explosion. Daniel cut him off, and Jack curled his fingers, sending Daniel a mean look.

"In Japanese. He said, 'Ow, now I have a headache,' or something to that effect." Daniel explained quickly, he had a slightly foggy look, he hadn't even meant to speak out, it was reflex really.

"That's _nice_, Daniel." Jack interrupted, rolling his eyes and slumping in his chair. It was a stunning impression of a dishearten, spoiled rotten nine-year-old.

"_It's possible that the host and symbiote were fighting for control of the body. If the host actually could match the symbiote in a struggle it would put severe strain on the body._" Selmac agreed, nodding placidly.

"He couldn't walk afterwards?" Jack offered, unsure if it was anything of importance, looking up from his thumbs.

"And he did look like he was having trouble getting off the ship alone—although he insisted on doing it by himself." Sam added.

"_Exhaustion._" Selmac nodded in agreement. It was the simplest and most obvious answer.

"It could have been shock." Daniel said absently, eyes focused on the glasses he was cleaning under the table. Everyone looked at him. He didn't look up to check his audience, but continued none-the-less.

"I mean," Daniel slid his glasses back on, "he just found out that he was, not only some place completely alien -no pun intended-, but his home is, probably, in a different time—possibly hundreds of years into the future, if not thousands." Daniel's gut ached, remembering Sha'uri, Skaara, even Little Bit, and his lost home on Abidos—possibly the only place he'd ever felt at home—he hurt, but didn't show it.

"Should we go visit the boy?" Hammond asked, placing folded hands on the table. Though it was phrased as one, it was not a question, but a demand. It was not every day that a Goa'uld, a child Goa'uld, was brought into the base by none other than O'Neill—someone who _really _did not like Goa'uld.

"Duo." A new voice said, startling the others. It was a fine voice that only Hammond didn't recognize. It was full and pleasant to the ears. But the voice had no body, no source from which it came. At Hammond's demand, the lithe form ghosted out of the shadows that didn't exist.

"It's Duo Maxwell. I run, I hide, but I never tell a lie." Duo smiled brightly, a cub-scout salute in place.

"What?! How?!" Hammond's chair spun around. The room on the surveillance monitor was empty. A physical impossibility, he was sure.

"Please… I've been living on the streets my whole life—Do you honestly think I couldn't pick a simple lock? Besides. It's boring in there. _As hell_, might I add. Not so much as a friggin' book." Duo scoffed, waving a light hand at them.

"But how did… without being seen… so fast…?" Shock and incredulous awe was making the two star general stammer rather ungracefully.

"Infiltration is my specialty. No, actually that's Trowa's specialty. But I'm a little monster when it comes to sneaking around where I'm not supposed to be. They always know afterwards though… I can't possibly fathom why… but I suppose explosions _are_ a little hard to miss…" Duo sighed arrogantly, flipping his braid. It shot over his shoulder like a whip and swung back and forth in hypnotic rhythm.

"So they are…" Hammond frowned; he'd gotten over his shock. Now he was just irritated, leaning towards pissed.

"Don't look so mistrusting General. I told you, I never tell a lie." Duo sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets—he quickly thought that it would be safer otherwise and let his hands hang limply by his sides and in plain view. Duo was no stranger to, 'hands where I can see them.'

"And you haven't said anything that is worth lying about either. Why should I trust you either way?" Hammond demanded, drumming his fingers against the desk.

"Who said anything about trust? Trust is hard won, General. It's also very, very easy to break. I don't stab knives in peoples backs. I prefer to face 'em." Duo said, snatching a rubber band off of a stack of papers and beginning to play cat's cradle with it.

Hammond looked questioningly at the others. They all just shrugged. He didn't seem malevolent, but then, he was a Goa'uld.

"I don't need your trust, General, I'd just prefer it if you'd stop acting if I'd blow the place to hell as soon as you look away. I could, mind you, and in times of total boredom I'd probably be really, really tempted to, but I usually don't do it to the people who helped me. Tho' on occasion, I've done it to people who've helped me after the fact. And yes, they do know it was me. I've got the scars to prove it. Damn." The 'damn' was in response to the rubber band that Duo was having trouble dislodging from his hand. His fingers were turning purple in the heavy silence. Everyone watched Duo. He managed to get the rubber band off. He starred at his hand and wiggled his fingers. There was more silence. Duo managed to get his hand tangled again.

"Kid doesn't quit. No pain no gain." Jack sighed, passing a marble he'd smuggled into the room from hand to hand in a mini soccer game.

"No guts no glory. No slut no f—" Duo hummed. Hammond cleared his throat loudly to cut Duo off from the next obvious word—obvious in that it was a very naughty one.

"I was going to say fudge brownies. Jeez, you have a dirty mind." Duo said distractedly. Suddenly the rubber band snapped off his hand and went sailing across the room and somehow managed to knock down one of Hammond prized diploma things. Hammond scowled, Duo covered his mouth with both hands, and Jack was seconds away from howling with laughter.

"If he is indeed from the future, perhaps he is related to O'Neill?" Teal'c mused. There was a series of choking noises. Poor Teal'c didn't understand the other's reactions because, he of course, had meant it seriously; which just made it all the funnier.

"Okay, so just don't go around telling people you're hosting a Goa'uld." Jack explained as he and Duo walked down the tunnels of the SGC towards the mess hall. Hammond, never before faced with such an occurrence, was completely idealess on how to go about the situation. With Duo's amazing escape as proof that locking him up somewhere was pointless, Hammond had sighed and gone against better judgement.

"Right." Duo replied. He'd been given allowance to roam the halls of SGC, but not without an official escort armed with handy dandy Goa'uld tranquilizers, which Janet had made a healthy batch of.

"That's about all. I don't think there are very many normal people on this base anymore, and if there are, then they're used to so much weird shit that that alone qualifies as weird. So you'll probably fit right in." Jack said, clapping Duo on the back and giving him a thumbs up.

'_**Oh, I feel so relieved at your statement! I will inflict pain upon you!**_' Rain'aok hissed, Duo just let the alien rant like the devil in the back of his head as Jack continued his joyful lament of sorts.

"Does that mean I'll be attacked with large swords? It makes me feel homely." Duo asked calmly, peering into the open doors they happened to pass. Jack missed a step and turned to give Duo a confused look of horror. Duo, sensing something amiss, jerked his head around quick as lightning to fix an unspoken question on Jack.

"Was that…?" Jack trailed off, not having to finish the statement for Duo to understand. Duo's mind was dirty enough that he found the hidden innuendo in every statement spoken; that didn't exclude his own words.

"No, it was not a naughty joke. I said it exactly as I meant it." Duo sniffed, closing his eyes in an arrogant fashion.

"Then no." Jack huffed.

"_Then _no? Does that mean I'll be attacked with large swords in the other mea—" Jack didn't really want to hear Duo finish that sentence. Kids these days. Correction. Kids these, far into the future, days.

"No."

"Damn. On the first question. Profane threats with a firearm? Throwing knives, perhaps?" he continued, pressing his spread fingertips together near his face.

"Nope." Jack said cheerfully. He obviously prided himself with this for some unknown reason. That statement wasn't exactly true either; possessed members of the SGC found comfort in zats and pistols. Basically anything that caused damage. And that time with Daniel…

_Who shot me? Daniel was sitting on a bed cradling an arm in a sling. _

_Er… You were shooting up the gate room and had to be stopped… He'd explained rather vaguely, totally dodging the subject._

_Who shot me?_ _Daniel repeated he had sounded kinda dazed, but then he always sounded like that--spacey._

"Shit! Don't any of you people have _normal_ friends? Wait…" Duo blinked, lifting his head from when he'd thrown it back at the beginning of the sentence and removing the hand he'd placed to his forehead at the same time.

"Your friends do that? Allow me take back what I said. You're a freak." Jack clicked his tongue and looked the other way.

"What about my friends?" Duo pouted, crossing his arms dejectedly.

"You're all freaks then. Happy?" Jack grunted, rolling his eyes at Duo, who mimicked him behind his back.

"Oh yes, very." Duo smiled, grinning up at Jack with a 100-watt gleam.

"Good." Jack said opening the doors to the mess hall. And someone, somewhere, decided that today was just too boring and therefore, something had to be done.

Jack sat down. Duo sat down.

"Okay," Duo said, "tell me what's going on." He leaned forward and put both elbows on the table, resting his chin in his palms.

"Mmph ib mnhig?" Jack asked, looking up from his mouth full of food.

"No, no. I mean about this whole place." Duo snorted, waving a hand and shifting his chin to the knuckles of the other hand.

'_**That is very simple. It is a place for DEFUNCT humans.**_'

'_I need longer sentences. Simple answers confuse me._'

'_**And complex answers?**_' Rain'aok grunted, starring dully ahead.

'_Confuse me even more but they're funner to misunderstand._'

'_**Funner…**_' Rain'aok repeated levelly, if not skeptically.

"Well, um. …. Aliens… came and took humans from earth and, uh, took them to other planets and… _lost _earth, cuz we like whooped 'em. So them old people who whooped ass buried the StarGate and uh, we, well not me, but other people found it again and than aliens found out and got all like 'rrr, a planet that we don't have even though we've got a friggin' _bazillion_ other ones' and so they want to destroy us all cuz we're too cool for them and they want us dead so they can be fairest in the land again. The _END_." Jack explained in one run-on sentence. Duo stared blankly at him.

"That was a very inspiring story." He said slowly.

'_**Are you kidding!? That was absolutely pathetic! Is that how he sees everything in his feeble little mind? Broken run-on sentences?**_'

"Rai-chan wants to know if that's how you see everything in your feeble little mind." Duo repeated, tapping the fork against the table.

"Mhpf."

'_**What?**_'

'_he said yes._'

'_**The Tau'ri are imbeciles! Bafoons! Total loonies!**_' Rain'aok cried, grabbing his head in his hands and throwing his head back. _**Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic!**_

'_I thank you for my species. Tell me, where are you learning these words? No one says "loonie" anymore, by the way…_' Duo replied, ducking. Somewhere in the middle of eating, some fool had shoved a second fool playfully. The second fool had, in turn, spilt food all over a third fool, who had grabbed a wad of food in attempt to fling it on the first fool who'd caused the mess to begin with, but the fist fool ducked so it hit a fourth fool. It had continued on like that. Of course, Duo and Jack, who were never ones to stand idly by during a hostile engagement, attempted to "settle everyone down" by grabbing wads of food themselves and winging them as hard as they could.

The food fight was limited to only fifteen or so people, a couple of which had abandoned food and were now rolling around on the ground kicking and screaming about stealing each others girlfriends. A couple others had attempted at first to break up the fight, but they were either ignored or pulled into the whole mess—most of the other soldiers had dragged their tables as far to the side as they went and were using trays as shields.

Then General Hammond came. Dressed in the normal white shirt and dark blue slacks, the two star general opened the double door, nodding at whatever the secretary next to him was saying. Everything stopped. He looked around silently and his eyes narrowed. He asked for the day of the week to a soldier positioned near him. The black haired soldier was going through rigor mortis, and his salute was shaking at his brow.

"It's Saturday, sir." The soldier replied meekly. Hammond cleared his throat and his cold gaze settled across the room. Everyone involved immediately regretted falling into this trap. The just _knew _that they were all gonna get _flogged_.

"You all realize… that none of you will turn in until this place is crystal clean?" he asked, looking around the room again. The string that had held everything tense twanged tighter before what Hammond had said actually registered and it snapped.

"YES, SIR!" everyone bellowed in chorus, knees snapped together, backs stood straighter, and everyone saluted with more enthusiasm than had ever been seen. Hammond nodded once.

"Then have at it!" he ordered, clapping his hands together before he turned around and left, the doors closing loudly behind him. Everyone was thrilled beyond words that their general was not some bureaucratic hard-ass; that, and the fact that they weren't gonna be flogged to death. Now there was the problem of finding enough dish rags…

"Sir, that was against base protocol… what if there's an alarm?" the secretary frowned, straightening her glasses. Hammond sighed.

"Boys will be boys." He shrugged. The secretary pursed her lips.

"But, _sir_!"

"How the hell did you manage to stay so clean?" Jack asked, truly amazed. He had a mop and was using it to clean some ketchup and less definable things off of the floor. Duo was on his hands and knees scrubbing at something particularly sticky.

"Hee-chan and Wuffers never laugh anything off. One joke and it's a life or death situation. If there's one thing I can do better then sneaking, it dodging." Duo explained, dipping the rag into the bucket and ringing it back out. Jack let out a small sound of confirmation to show that he'd heard. Duo's brain was defiantly going on strike. He was just about to screw everything he'd been taught and spill the beans to someone he hadn't even known for a full day. Silly Duo.

"But truthfully, I think it relaxes them, fighting over such stupid things, I have to admit it's a relief fighting and knowing that no ones going to die or get hurt because of it." He whispered with a thicker accent than he'd hoped.

"So attempting to kill you, but never managing it is therapeutic? I'd think it'd piss me off, like trying to kill that cockroach that keeps getting into your cereal, but never getting it under your boot." Jack raised an eyebrow to Duo.

"Nice! And don't worry, I make sure I deserve it first with my version of therapy. It's hard to understand for someone like you, but Hee-chan, Wuffers, and Trowa aren't the kind of people who can relive their fear and hurt like normal people. They can't cry or even ask for a hug. I think all of us are like that to a degree… we just don't have any tears left to cry. But for them it's different, it's just not possible.

Wufei… he doesn't show any kind of emotion that would show weakness because of what he was taught. Men, _especially_ _warriors_, can't show weakness, not even a little. Trowa's that way cuz he doesn't _know_ anything else. He didn't learn how to ride a bike; he learned how to pilot a Leo. And Heero… he can't show emotion because perfect soldiers _aren't_ _supposed_ to _feel_ emotion. _Perfect_ _soldiers_ aren't supposed to be _human_." Duo said, bitterness creeping into his voice. Dammit, he was so going to die for this.

"So a friendly tumble is their version of a hug?" Jack asked with a weak smile, wondering what Duo had meant by 'perfect soldier.' Duo gave him an even weaker smile in return.

"Yup."

"So, what did you mean by 'it's hard to understand for someone like you'? You don't know me." Jack's voice was casual—what people said about him was usually right. How shallow he was.

"No, I don't, but I can see it in your eyes. You've killed more people then you ever wanted too. But us," Duo shook his head and his brain fell out; oops, "Heero and Trowa killed the youngest. Trowa's family was killed in a bombing run when he was just a baby, one or so, well, a rebel group took him in, they were fighting against the alliance. They raised him, taught him, and gave him a suit. He told me once, when he was about nine, maybe ten, a lot of the soldiers turned on the others because of better promise in the alliance—and you know he told me?" Jack shook his head. He did not like where this was going at all.

"He killed them. People he'd worked and lived with his whole life. He killed them without hesitating. And do you know why?" again Jack shook his head, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Because he's a soldier and they were his enemy. _That_, Colonel, is our life. Heero, well, I rather not talk about it. Trowa would understand if I told you about him with out say-so but not the others I'm afraid. If you meet them don't tell them I told you all this okay?" Jack nodded grimly, cruel images flashing through his mind, of fathers and mothers rocking their dead children to sleep with tears streaming down their faces as Jack himself had once done…

"And you?" he asked quietly. Duo stiffened, pausing with rag in hand, then continued. His lips moved a couple times, without sound, before he finally relearned the art of speaking.

"My entire family was killed in a bombing run when I was really little so, I can't remember them. Solo raised me…" Solo's image flashed through his mind.

"He taught me the trade, showed me how to stay alive on the streets of L2… it's a real nasty place, L2, it's all bad, gangs rule the streets and the Mafia rule everything else. No one saves money for a good future on L2, every one saves money to _get off_ L2. Solo died when a plaque swept through. Named myself Duo…"

"After him…"

"Yea… anyway, I became leader of our little rat pack. Eventually we went too far with our raid on an alliance storehouse. The Maxwell Church took us in. Every one got adopted but me—I was too much trouble, always picking fights… I loved them, Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. I was finally happy. For about a year. An attack came and a rebel group took cover in the church… when I came back, the… the church… long story short, I got caught and ended up working for some mad scientist. Wild huh? What a life, I'll tell ya." Duo started humming a cheery tune and went back to work without another word.

Jack starred at him, then looked around. No one else had heard a thing. He looked back at Duo and his happy façade, and then went to work. Duo had been right. He would never understand. He wondered what Duo had been thinking as he told him all of this; and what Duo's story would have sounded like if he hadn't hacked it up so badly.

Duo lay on the bed in his quarters, starring at the ceiling, arms folded behind his head and his ankles crossed. The lamp glowed duly on the table across the room, next to the books Jack had gone through extra trouble to obtain. Duo hadn't read them. He hadn't done anything except lay on the bed, hum tunelessly like a drunk, and think about nothing. He could hear the guards outside his door and the red light blinking on the surveillance camera was starting to irritate him.

'_**Shinigami…**_' Rain'aok whispered suddenly. He'd been quiet for the entire evening and Duo had almost forgotten him.

'_Yes_?' Duo shot back, fists bunching behind his head.

'_**Why did you tell him if it hurts you?**_' Rain'aok asked slowly, quietly as if he truly wanted to know, like a small child who didn't know why his mother was crying.

'…' Duo was surprised at the question because he didn't know the answer. Emotions swirled in the pit of his stomach and he bit his lip.

'_**Does the hurt feel good to you?**_' Rain'aok whispered, gently prodding the boy with the broken soul for answers.

'_Sometimes._' Duo breathed slowly, his inner demons swirling underneath the lid of the box he was opening. He could see them, the demons, but his hand moved on it's own, slowly pulling the lid back, enchanted by the light and warmth that was the box's other contents.

'_**Why?**_' Duo slammed the lid back into place and his demons' cries where cut off for the short time being. But so was the light and warmth, leaving him cold and alone again. It was his own Pandora's Box; he'd sealed away the demons of plague and despair, but in doing so he'd also sealed away his hope.

'_I don't know. Why do you care? Tau'ri are scum, remember?_' Duo was turning bitter and cold at Rain'aok's prodding. He was turning bitter to the fact that he'd spilled his heart to a stranger when he couldn't do it to the only people he trusted.

'_**I can not lock you away nor can I lock your emotions away. I feel them but I can not understand them. It hurts.**_' Rain'aok sounded as confused as a small child did, feeble and unenlightened to the cruel world around him. He wanted the knowledge only Duo could give him.

'_Then your just like some one else I know._' Duo shot back, unsympathetic.

'_**Heero?**_' came the meek reply.

'_Finished reading my thoughts and memories, have you?_' Duo demanded crossly, glaring up at the ceiling of his small room.

'_**Yes. The more predominant ones.**_' The answer was unashamed.

'_Did you find them funny? Did you find the part where I cry my eyes out over Sister Helen's dead corpse particularly humorous?_' Duo bit out. He didn't know why he said it, Rain'aok hadn't shown the slightest bit of condescending ignorance or made brutal jabs at his still open wounds from so long ago.

'…_**No.**_' Rain'aok's voice was hollow and empty. He didn't know what it was like to cry over someone he'd loved and lost. He didn't know what it was like to have anyone love him.

'…_Do you miss them?_' Duo asked in a whisper, suddenly feeling like an evil bastard.

'_**Who?**_' Rain'aok blurted, confused to his very core. Duo blinked. Was Rain'aok really so naïve? He was on another planet in a galaxy far, far away. What about his _home_?

'_Friends? Family?_' Duo offered, disbelieving. Did the Goa'uld really not have these kind of things or was Rain'aok purely deprived?

'_**Goa'uld have no such thing.**_' Rain'aok stated, emotionless. He wasn't bitter because he didn't know what he'd never received.

'…' Duo managed to swallow the instinctive response of "you're kidding me" which was pathetically abrasive but other than that he was speechless. There was nothing he could say and the universal monosyllable choice of response when you haven't a decent reply on hand seemed a little tactless.

'…_**You miss your… friends.**_' The words struck deep.

'_No…I miss my… my family…_' With that, Duo turned toward the wall, where the camera wouldn't see his face, and the tears started rolling down his cheeks. Duo didn't shake or usher a sound, he just lay there, and let the tears stain his face.

Rain'aok looked up from under the tree at the sky as it gave a loud rumble and split open, rain pouring out. He looked up and he starred into the swelling black clouds. He started to feel hollow inside, the blackness enveloping him. It wasn't the same blackness as before he'd met Duo, one devoid of emotion, but a blackness too full of emotion. He couldn't take it.

The emotion called sorrow, the one called anger, and the one called betrayal. The emotion called hope, the one called loss, and the one called love, The emotion called happiness, the one called lust, and the one called desire. The emotion called bliss, the one called excitement, and the one called spite. In addition to the emotions he'd known before, all these new emotions swirled within him reaching out to fill every corner of his body. Rain'aok felt as if he'd explode. His eyes began to burn and tears started streaming from his eyes, they were Duo's tears as much as his own. He hated it! He hated these feelings! Throwing his head back, Rain'aok opened his mouth and let out a long, animalistic scream that went on and on and never seemed to end.

000

Heero Yuy was Duo's age, a little shorter, but stronger looking. He has messy black brown hair and freezing cobalt eyes. He wore jeans and a blue windbreaker over a white muscle shirt. He looked up into the pouring sky, searching for signs of it stopping and for signs of Duo. Finding neither, Heero turned away from the sky and wandered deeper in the woods.

02 was missing. 02 must be found. And not God himself could stop Heero from doing so. If it so happened that God had any intent on attempting to stop Heero, then it'd find that Heero would stop only in death and not one fucking second sooner. Heero was a soldier. He was not a perfect soldier, despite the attempts of Dr. J, but a soldier non-the-less, and solders never abandoned their own. Heero Yuy never abandoned his own.

000

'_**Morning Shinigami.**_' the cheery tune was like the voice of Satan. Satan all warm and fuzzy and a thousand times more terrifying. Okay, so it wasn't cheerful, more like a dead monotone, but to Duo, at that moment, it was fuzzy Satan. No ifs, ands, or buts.

"Wha' the fusch?" Duo slurred, awakened too goddamn early by Rai-chan's cheerful call.

'_**Is something wrong with your tongue?**_' Rai-chan's voice was light and curious and totally different from last night. And extremely sarcastic. Like the kind preppy teenagers use, just worse—and slightly more evil.

"Neerrrr…" he mumbled, twisting over limply and mashing his face into his pillow as he kicked the blankets, trying to untangle his legs without the use of hands.

'_**Really? Because "neerrrr" is not a word.**_' There was a snicker at the end and it rang like a church bell in his ears.

"Lemme… Five more minutes… Sleep…" Duo pulled the covers over his head, nearly breaking his knees in the process, and tried to block out the morning with the twelve inches of blanket he'd secured. Rai-chan proved resistant.

"Uuhhh… coffee…" Duo tripped on the sheets getting out of bed and barely managed to get back up again. After a life or death battle full of heroics and an overactive imagination, he made it to the door, then he opened it, saw Jack, screamed, and slammed it closed again, before slumping against the painted metal and nearly poking his eye out with his thumb.

'_**Have you forgotten what has happened?**_' Rai-chan asked dully. Duo hadn't, not really, but he was temporarily caught within the grip of early mourning amnesia.

"I remember that when I talked to myself, no one answered. Well, sometimes they did, but those are alliance drugs for you." He mumbled, remembering the absurd, strange, arcane, and just plain Kangaroo-screw weird conversations he'd had with that five eyed skull that bounced around on one arm.

'_**They drugged you.**_' Rai-chan repeated flatly as he observed Duo's memories in shock and amusement.

"… Rai-chan?" Duo's memory slowly returning in the popping of many tiny imaginary sleep bubbles.

'_**Huzza, he remembers!**_' Rai-chan cheered loudly, waving his arms.

"… You seem… different, today." Different was not an understatement. It surpassed understatement at the last red sun after Betelgeuse.

'_**Me? It was you who just slammed the door in Jack O'Neill's face. You are the one that will hang for that.**_' Duo jumped up and flung the door open. Jack was standing there, waiting patiently for him, humming quietly to himself.

"Sorry! You know, half asleep…" Duo stumbled, as Jack looked him up and down.

"No problem. I see you sleep in your clothes." He noted absently. Duo glared half-heartedly at the colonel.

"There's a video camera in my room. I mean, I'll dance for cash, but I prefer to be drunk, thank you."

"Dance? Like the macareina?"

"You mean I haven't told you I'm also an accomplished night club dancer?" Duo gave a look of over exaggerated shock, slapping a hand over he chest.

"Noooo…"

"Pity." Duo snorted, brushing his whip of hair over his shoulder. The two, three if you counted Rai-chan, made their way to the crystal clean mess hall for breakfast.

'_Why are you so different today?_' Duo asked Rai-chan again as he sat down at the table across from Daniel.

'_**Well, lucky me, I was exposed to all your raw emotion for such a long time, I rather think I have lost my mind. Coffee?**_' Rai-chan said in a rush.

'_Oh… you have human emotion now and it's my fault cuz I felt like shit last night? So what, I like rubbed off on you?_' Duo guessed, his brain still partially numb from sleep.

'_**Rrr… perhaps? I am not sure how this whole mental bonding between host and symbiote thing works…**_' Rai-chan confessed, mentally shrugging and scratching his head.

'_And you want coffee?_' Duo continued.

'_**Um… I think so… I am still weird from this whole emotion thing…**_'

'_Yeah… um… I don't think emotions have that much to do with wanting coffee…_' Duo pointed out. Rai-chan rolled his eyes.

'_**Then just drink the damn coffee.**_' He ordered. Duo didn't get why Rai-chan was telling him to drink because it was Rai-chan who wanted coffee—or thought he did, but Duo didn't say anything more, just started chugging his coffee, glorious coffee.

'_**Let me have some, you bastard.**_' Duo winced, "Shit, I turned him bi-polar."

"Hey, Duo, have a good sleep?" Daniel asked, looking up from his book a mere second. Duo was falling into the rhythm of the StarGate Command with a speed that was unnatural. It had only been about a twenty-four hour period, including sleep, that Duo had been here. Yet, he felt as if he'd been here for years, and not just hours, the others seemed to feel too easy around him as well.

A shiver ran down his back. Was he the only one who noticed that there was something wrong? Or was he just thinking to deeply into this topic? That was probably the case, though he hardly thought deeply about anything at all.

"On and off. How come I didn't see you in the blitzkrieg yesterday?" Duo said quickly, remembering that Daniel, who was now looking at him over the top of his book, waiting for answer, had asked him a question.

"Because he was starving himself looking at rocks with pretty pictures." Jack interrupted, dropping his tray onto the table with a loud clatter. It took the amazing skills that Jack seemed to have not to spill Froot Loops and orange juice across the entire table.

"Sam was helping me with some ancient text…" Daniel mumbled uncomfortably, shifting his weight as Jack slid into the seat next to Daniel.

"And it's _always_ ancient text… god, doesn't it get boring?" Jack scowled, scooping a spoonful of Froot Loops into his mouth.

"No, not really…" Daniel murmured, rolling his eyes to the side as if trying to look at something there that he could use as an excuse to break the conversation off right then and there.

"Do you think they were _really_ working?" Duo asked Jack, snickering and pressing a hand to the side of his face, leaning across the table and whispering loud enough to make sure Daniel heard.

"Oh, I'm sure they were working on _something_…" Jack whistled, wriggling his eyebrows and licking his spoon _very _suggestively.

"_What?!_ Jack!" Daniel shouted, indignant, face turning a new shade of red. Jack gave him a "What-the-ding-bat-did-I-do" look, while Daniel, still red, glared at Jack with the "Oh-you-know-what-cuz-you-haven't-been-innocent-enough-_not_-to-know-since-the-day-you-were-born" look. It was a very long look, but Daniel pulled it off.

"Oh, come on. Loosen up! You're like Q-Bean, I swear." Duo huffed, puffing his cheeks out comically, then loosing it in a breath to punch Daniel in the arm playfully, leaning across the table.

"Q-Bean?" Daniel asked, looking at Jack, who just shrugged and went back to his spoon. Duo didn't answer the question. He just began gorging on the food he'd been given.

"If Sam asks what the hell you're doing to that spoon, then I'm telling her that you're fantasizing about her. _Then _I'm telling _Jacob_." Daniel hissed. Jack paused rigidly as Duo blinked at them, wondering what Jacob had to do with Sam.

'………… _**Shinigami!**_' Duo was so surprised by the sudden blurt that he spewed scrambled eggs all over the table. At least it didn't come out his nose. The others didn't see it that way and were leaned away from the table, Daniel with his book over his head and Jack holding up his tray. Jack was kinda squinting at Duo in an odd way.

"_**WHAT THE FLYING BAT FUCK DO YOU WANT?!**_" Duo shrieked, not at all pleased. The entire mess hall froze and turned to look at him. Duo flinched, turning red, and quickly mumbled excuses while rubbing the back of his head, laughing in an embarrassed way. Duo sighed in relief when everyone turned away and went back to what they had been doing. Still blushing, Duo cleaned up his mess with a napkin as Jack whispered something to Daniel.

'_What. Is. It. You. Want?_' Duo ground out slowly at the silent alien, who was, rather un-silently, laughing mildly maniacally, totally thriving off of the chaos he'd just provoked, before sobering up.

'…_**How did you get on the Gou'uld ship in the first place?**_' Duo blinked. How had he gotten onto the ship? He'd been in a wood, on earth-ground, then he had been on the ship—he hadn't thought about how he'd gotten there, that was for when you were safe, or at least felt that way, in familiar territory.

'_That is a helluva good question._' Duo slid away from the table, sprinting towards the door, his hand shot out and the napkin full of half-chewed scrambled eggs landed neatly into the garbage can with out Duo even having to slow down.

"What is your problem all of the sudden?" Jack panted as Duo stood over Daniel's desk, filling through artifacts and papers violently and quickly. His hands moved back and forth, pulling papers apart and then together as he skimmed across the contents quick as lightning.

"What are you looking for?" Jack asked, bending forward to narrow his eyes at a wood carved statue that was bending into odd shapes. Jack latched onto the door to keep himself from falling over at Daniel's entrance.

"What are you doing to my office?!" he demanded, snatching a funny looking bobble away from Jack, who'd rediscovered his need to juggle. Duo stopped, a wad of papers in hand, at Daniel's rather angry outburst.

"Huh… Well, you see…" Duo looked around. Every conceivable surface was awash with artifacts of every religion on the planet, from Egyptian to Mayan, to Babylonian, to Chinese to Celtic. Alien artifacts seemed to have a special place in Daniel's heart as well. Together, the artifacts took up more space then the poor room could hold; ergo, it looked a little… cluttered

"Wow. You have my organizational skills." Duo grinned, placing his hands on his hips as he looked around the room. He seemed to find it a very endearing feature that Daniel's organizational skill were lacking.

"What are you looking for?" Jack repeated, pulling a rather worn book off of a shelf and holding up by the corner of one cover, the book flipping open and dust washing out. Duo just looked back at Daniel's desk and continued his raid, Daniel wrestling the book away from Jack who "wanted to read it."

"No idea." Duo admitted, finding an old manila folder wedged between two books and flipping through it.

"This is ridiculous!" Daniel gasped, pressing a palm to his forehead hand pushing the hair back out of his face. It was unclear to whether he was referring to Duo or Jack, but it was most likely meant for both of them.

"How did I get on the Goa'uld ship?" Duo suddenly asked. Jack and Daniel looked at one another. That was a good question.

A/N: Servus!

Apologizes for suckyness. Very bad it is, I know. bows I'm sorry for Rai-chan's new personality—everyone liked Rai-chan in the first chapter when he was a pissy bastard, but I had already written this out before I even thought about posting—I made Rai-chan bi-polar to try and please everyone. Pleasing me by not making me have to rewrite the entire story.

I ALSO WANT TO THANK EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED

I'm very Pleased at the reviews I got for chapter I.

I was actually inspired to write this story by Upon a Fiery Steed and the fact that there isn't nearly enough GWxSG1 crossovers. Thank you all.

Ja Mata Ne


	3. Complications

Chapter III: Complications

Hope you like!

Heero Yuy slowly opened his eyes. His reaction was instantaneous, his body moving as if on it's own. Within the space of time it took a normal person to take a quick breath, Heero was on his feet, gun pointed at the head of an old man. The man had dark reddish-brown skin that looked as soft and wrinkled as weather worn leather. His gray hair had beads and bird feathers woven into it—in shorter terms, his image was out of the ancient history books Heero'd studied; of a time before the colonies, of a time before people could even fly. That is to say, he looked exactly like a Native American Indian. One that didn't even flinch at Heero's weapon. Those around him however, did, by pointing an array of bows and spears at Heero. The man held up a calming hand.

"I am Skymane of the Forest People. Welcome." The old man spoke, spreading his arms that where draped in bead encrusted cloth. Heero pulled the hammer back on his pistol; the men at arms pulling whatever slack they hand on their bowstrings taut until they whined.

"You have come on the same lighting that struck the demon's flying temple. The gods have sent you, God child." Heero's eye ticked at Skymane's slow rhythmic tempo. He didn't lower his gun, but he released the trigger.

"God child? Lightning… how is it the same as before?" Skymane drew a finger in a diagonal line through the air.

"It took the same path… Greybear and his warriors came back with the one who rode the lightning before, but we could not name that Godchild a proper title. But we felt that the gods had sent him for his choosing. When we saw is purple eyes, we knew that he had been the one that came." Heero slowly, ever so slowly, lowered his weapon.

"Where is he?" he demanded. He felt his gut clench in excitement, his chest tightening. Duo was here, and they could—_do_ _what?_ a voice in the back of his head asked, _go home? You can't go back until you know where you are, everyone knows that…_ Piss off…!

"God Child is with Greybear," Heero cut his thoughts off and his inner voice swore with a renewed vengeance.

"And where is this… Greybear?" Heero asked, his muscles bunching. It was taking everything he had not to swing the gun up and pull the trigger…

"Greybear is gone," Skymane said placidly. Heero's eyes narrowed at the man's answer, his grip tightening around the handle of the gun.

"Gone?"

"Yes. Greybear and his warriors returned to their home through the gate of water…" Skymane swung an arm outwards to indicate something in the distance, the withered old fingers scrapping through the air. Heero's finger convulsed reflexively. There was a loud crack as Heero pulled the trigger without meaning to, the bullet sinking into the ground dangerously near his foot.

"Hey, Dannyboy! How's it hangin'?" Jack sang happily, bursting into the room. Daniel barely noticed.

"_I have brough' donuth!_" Rai-chan announced, a donut wedged into his mouth as he held up the pink, half-empty donut box. Being half empty meant that it was half full, and seeing as a half full box of donuts was not in an area where it was accessible to everyone in SGC, there was probably more then enough angry co workers running around looking for them at that very moment. 'When the donut box is missing, find Colonel O'Neill' as the saying went.

"That's nice, thank you," Daniel murmured, neglecting to so much as even look up. Rai-chan frowned dejectedly, "_nerd who reas crap no one cares abouth for like eveh--grumble, grumble--annoyin—mutter—no life wha-so-eveh…_" Rai-chan snorted rather vehemently, stroking the donut box as if it need comforting from mean ol' Daniel. Jack watched, slightly worried, before deciding he didn't give a rat's ass as it wasn't as interesting as this strange… duck-headed monkey carving.

A light flickered on in Daniel's eyes. He scooped up papers and books, and ran out of the room, leaving the other two to stand blinking at the exit. Daniel ran back in and pointed to a donut that was being displayed by Rai-chan.

"Is that strawberry filled?" he asked.

"_Yeth._"

"Thanks!" Daniel scooped up the donut and ran back out.

"Remember to use turn signals!" Jack shouted after him. Daniel nearly concussed himself on the wall as he attempted to veer around Teal'c, who grabbed Daniel's arm and set him straight before continuing after Daniel's hasty thanks.

"Has Dr. Jackson found anything of importance?" Teal'c asked, looking over his shoulder into the now empty corridor. Jack patted him warmly on the back.

"Not a clue in the world, I fear," Jack sighed, shaking his head. Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed?" he turned to Rai-chan and bowed his head.

"Rain'aok." He rumbled in greeting. Rai-chan blinked at him a couple times before thrusting the donut box in front of him.

"_Wan' a donuth?_"

"I've been going through all of my old research, trying to find the possible explanation as to how Duo came to where he was without using a StarGate, now, I need to do more research, but if my assumptions are correct, then it's possible there was a _second_ type of transportation created by the Ancients that travels, rather than _through_ space _or_ time, _between_ dimensions!" Daniel finished his scientific rant and, panting, pushed his glasses back into their rightful place. There was a heavy silence that stuck to every surface.

"Why dimensions?" Duo gulped weakly. No, no, no, no! This couldn't be happening…

"Well, I found it odd that you where sent to a different planet. If it was to time travel, then you'd still be on earth, but you weren't. Also, there have always been suggestions of parallel universes, I'm sure you all know the Twilight Zone? Like that, just more wide scale, if they exist, the chances are that there are infinite numbers of them, each following a different, 'what-if' question. 'What if' the dinosaurs didn't die out? 'what if' mankind never evolved from primates, but instead from birds? 'What if' mankind never developed nuclear weapons? 'What if' we never rediscovered the Stargate? The possibilities are endless! The planet you where sent to, in a parallel universe, could even be the earth that you know!" Daniel's excitement seemed a little cruel to Duo, as it was just making everything a hell of a lot more complicated, besides that, Duo's brain was flopping around like a dead fish by this time, grasping randomly at disconnected thoughts.

'_What if life actually made sense_?' Duo wondered, slumping into his seat, '_what if god cared_?' Rai-chan perked up in the back of his mind, ready to rub salt into his wounds.

'_**Do not whine so much, moron. If life made sense and god cared, this existence would be far too boring.**_' Rai-chan snorted, folding his hands behind his head; for all the concern he'd showed for Duo's predicament earlier, he couldn't seem to care less now.

'_That… that was strangely comforting. Thanks, Rai-chan_.'

"Yes, of course! It's always a possibility, I mean, you've been turned 'invisible' by being sent into another dimension, and the alternate reality mirror works the same way, doesn't it? But, why would the Ancients abandon it?" Sam asked curiously, leaning forward.

"that's easy enough to explain… I mean, theoretically going between dimensions would be horribly dangerous, think of it, you meet the wrong people at the wrong time, and you could screw up the future for the entire existence of that universe… they probably found it to be too risky…" Daniel admitted, looking a little guilty.

"this alternate reality mirror—it'd have to exist in every dimension, right? Even mine, could I try using that?" Duo gulped down the donut Rain'aok had ravaged.

"well it'd exist in your dimension, yes…" Sam murmured, "but we don't have enough information on this to even _try_… trying to use the dimensional mirror is out of the question because the other side of the mirror only has to be in another dimension. It doesn't matter where. In the basement of an old house, in a jungle, at the bottom of a sea, but because you didn't use the mirror to get here…"

"…I wouldn't know what my dimension looks like."

"Right."

"So, like, theoretically, we could just drop the subject right here and now cuz we're still just as clueless as before?" Jack asked looking around annoyed. Everyone looked at one another. There was silence as everyone turned to look at Duo. Duo blinked back at them until he realized they wanted an answer and he gave them a thin-lipped smile.

"Well… first I'm going to go puke up this donut. Then I was thinking of going and pounding my head against a wall until spontaneous enlightenment," he said, standing up pointing to the door with both hands before stumbling out.

* * *

Wufei let out an enraged hiss as he palmed his forehead. The Chinese teenager wore his black hair in a thin pony tail and was clad in all white as he sat there, soaked to the bone on the couch; eyes held tightly closed.

"I can't believe it. Where the fuck are Yuy and Maxwell?" He growled as Trowa, a vaguely European looking young man with a single band of hair covering one side of his face, draped a towel over Wufei's shoulders. The water flew off him in turrets as he twisted angrily in his seat to face his comrade.

"We should still be looking for them! Are we supposed to just wait for them to walk back through that door?! Are we cowards to just sit idly and wait for change!?" he shouted angrily. Trowa shook his head sadly.

"If we were, we would not be fighting this war…" Wufei grit his teeth but backed down, turning around again. He cast a glance to the wind and rain pelted window. Wufei's anger dejectedly seeped away as the rain dampened his already dark mood.

"…Dammit."

* * *

Heero stared at the gate, the large ring that seemed to be made out of a strange stone. It had an inner ring as well, and seven equally spaced triangles that dotted the outer ring. Heero also noticed the existence of strange symbols, as well as a second device stationed in front of it, that bore the same markings as well as a large red bubble that seemed to be made out of a type of glass.

"What… is this?" Heero asked, his hackles raising in a subconscious mistrust of the unknown device.

"The ring of water…" Skymane said quietly, shaking his head, "Greybear and his people used the strange stone to open the gate of water, but I do not know what they did…" Heero walked forward and brushed a hand over the 'strange stone's surface. It was obviously some kind of keypad, some kind of combination. He glanced up at the ring, there where seven triangles, but many symbols. Seven symbols to the combination. How many seven symbol combinations where on the devices…? Enough to keep him busy for the next three thousand years.

"_Kso_!" he blurted, all at once loosing the cool he never lost. So close and the _bakayoru_ had to go get himself trapped on the other side of some kind of Pandora puzzle! His knuckles were turning white as his hands clutched the sides of the device he was bent over.

Darkness had fallen, the stars blinking enticingly as Heero looked up, sitting on a fallen tree, motionless. He had no idea that a man could see so many stars from planet ground, the white, light blue, and soft lavender, even gentle red painted the otherwise black canvas of night; the sliver of the planets red moon a bloody cut in the sky. The people—whoever they were—had left him for the time being.

Heero didn't flinch as the bushes next to him rustled and a young man emerged. He had dark red-brown skin and long black hair that ran in braided cascades down his back. He wore leggings, a leather satchel, a quiver of arrows, and nothing else, his muscular bare chest painted in blue designs. The man, perhaps eighteen to twenty, held the undressed long bow on end, before he pulled a coil of string from his pouch and calmly began to fit it on his bow. Finished, he reached back and plucked an arrow in practiced ease, catching the feathers between his middle and index fingers.

He fitted it and pulled the string taut, the arrow tip pointed directly at the back of Heero's head.

* * *

Duo was getting his ass handed to him. It hurt. Jack had ushered the other occupants of the training room out, and threatened those who refused with blackmail—no one dared to stick around to see if Jack actually had blackmail hanging over the head of every SGC member. With Jack, it was shockingly easy to visualize. It was also shockingly easy to visualize him forgetting such valuable information.

"Damn!" Duo whined, sitting—and pouting—in the middle of the blue mat, his arms crossed, "I thought I had this soldier thing down pat!" Jack grinned as Teal'c hauled Duo to his feet with a large hand.

"Hand-to-hand combat is not the same a being a soldier. A soldier often uses a weapon." Teal'c said in a sage like tone. Duo grinned happily and clapped his hands together.

"Good! Because I'm better at being a soldier then the master of jujitsu," He flipped his braid back over his shoulder, "Of course, I'm one of them too." Jack's grin widened and he flounce over to a large metal wall cabinet and pulled out two padded sticks and held them out.

"And voila! Staff training! It's a real handy thing to have by, seems to Goa'uld's favorite. Other than zats." Duo smiled rather tightly and caught the staff Jack had thrown to him.

'_**Can you fight with a staff?**_' Rai-chan quipped, lounging lazily under the withered tree in Duo's mind—the place had lightened ever so slightly with Rai-chan's melding of Duo's personality. The roses had been replaced with blood red ones and the sky was, through still gray, very much lighter.

'_No. I fight with somethin' way cooler._'

'_**Huh. Good luck then. Do not break a leg or whatever it is you idiotic species say—I would have to use energy to fix it cuz you were stupid…**_' He yawned and fell asleep. The lazy little…

Duo swung the practice stick upwards with a short squeak, barely blocking the oncoming attack from Teal'c. Rolling to the side, Duo swung at Teal'c's legs. Teal'c slammed the end of the staff into the mat, blocking Duo's swing short. Well, pigeon crap.

* * *

The man swung his bow sharply to the left without warning. The arrow was loosed instantly, and sunk into the bark of a nearby tree. Heero didn't react. The man walked over and pulled the arrow out of the tree casually, dragging a thumb over the indentation.

"They speak of you, Godchild. Do you know? I know you do." He said conversationally. Heero snorted.

"I am River," River refitted the arrow, and aimed, "Who are you called? In the land you have come from?" Heero said nothing but he glared angry fiery hell at River. Angered by the attempt at human interaction by some one who he'd never met before, and who obviously saw that he had no interest what so ever, Heero stood. River, who'd had his back to Heero, grinned over his shoulder. It was Duo's grin—the only successful thing to make Heero go into a blind rage.

"_Omae o korosu_!" River grinned as Heero pinned him up against a tree.

"What do you want from me!?" Heero spat. River's smile vanished.

"I can help you. I saw what Greybear's people did—I saw the symbols they used. I remember." River tapped a finger to his temple. Heero dropped River, his hand shaking involuntarily. All the stress he had gone through was reaching maximum height and he was starting to get a little twitchy—and starting to become aware of the crack in his dam.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Heero asked levelly, building the wall up again. River just shrugged. Bastard.

"Open it. _Now_."

* * *

Duo's head snapped around as the alarms rang out, his braid whipping through the air. Alarms meant an attack. An attack meant an enemy. An enemy was someone Shinigami had to kill…

'_**Shinigami!**_' Rain'aok shouted at him in distressed alarm. Stinging redness on his cheek brought him back; Jack and Teal'c staring curiously at him. Giving them a quick, abashed glance, he spun and made his way out of the room with the two at his heels.

'_**What the hell was that? You were coming to join me here, but I was not going.**_' Rain'aok questioned urgently.

"_The same thing that happened on the ship—Autopilot._" Duo snorted back. Shinigami had almost taken over—that would have been bad—let everyone know you're a friggin' _Beserker_… wait…

"_Did Jack **slap** me?_" Rai-chan's only reaction was a hooting laugh. Ha. Ha.

By the time the three where in the dialing room, the heavy steal curtain had been lowered and a defense team had been stationed in a semi-circle around the 'gate. Hammond and company where stationed around a small surveillance monitor. The liquid in the 'gate shone with a light from within, and suddenly rippled as two figures stepped out. Duo, who'd balanced himself between Teal'c and Jack, stared, before a grin broke out, and, with a squeal of delight he hurled himself to the door.

Heero never knew what hit him—well, actually, he did.

When Duo came barreling through the soldiers, hurtling toward him at maximum velocity, Heero had but one choice—let him; and let him he did. Duo slammed into Heero with all his weight, knocking Heero off balance for the mere fraction of a second he remained on his feet before he was unceremoniously pinned to the ramp leading to the StarGate. Something that wasn't very fun to fall on. And while Duo snuggled up to his comrade that was screaming obscenities in Japanese, no one else had any idea on what to do.

Once Duo had calmed down, he looked up at River, who was watching the entire scene curiously. SG-1 was filing into the room, escorting one particularly unnerved General.

"Awww… you brought me a present…" Duo cooed, eyeing River carefully.

Heero sent a glare at Duo who, in addition to straddling his chest, was now chatting excitedly to a gray haired man that was now leaning over them. Despite everything, he was, some how, relived to see Duo. He was even, maybe just a little, barely a flicker, warm and fuzzy inside—but suddenly, Duo's speech pattern changed, his posture changed, his smile changed—Duo changed.

The crowed that had gathered around the newcomers suddenly looked down out of surprise as Heero pulled the hammer back on his pistol with an audible click; the barrel pointed directly between the curiously staring Duo Maxwell's eyes. Duo's grin widened as the guns of the SGC snapped into place in response.

"_You_ are _good!_" Heero blinked, "_I mean, sure, I have seen all of Shinigami's memories, but it is as if you can read minds!_" Rai-chan awed, pressing an index finger to both of Duo's temples. Heero frowned deeply.

"Status?" he queried. Duo took back his body and patted Heero's shoulder, getting up off of him. Heero stood erect immediately; Duo hooking an arm around his neck.

"Well, Hee-buddy, there, I'll have to share a little secret with you… Hee-chan, do you believe in _aliens_?" Duo asked casually, steering his baffled comrade towards the door. River, unnoticed by anyone, slipped away.

* * *

River walked through the abyss of the celestial world—a perfect mirror image of the earth that was untainted by mankind, of what it would have been if the Mother Gaia had not been tempted to see how a creature, armed with nothing but intelligence, would survive in her domain of tooth and claw. River looked the same, only now, around his neck, hung an Indian relic, a neckpiece, the center of which held an eagle carved of turquoise. The bands that held it to his body was made out of beads carved with the bones of hares and coyotes and deer and bears.

"Why did you meddle, River Eagle? They are not of your race nor even your beliefs!" a, not quite angry, unpleased voice demanded. The omnipotent figure drifted from out of nowhere. She was a beautiful as any should come, her long red hair, and longer enticing legs, cold, intelligent green eyes and full red lips. Her skin was flawless, completely pure, her toned body gilded with the delicate, intricately designed armor—a wicked sword fixed to her hip. Eagle looked upon her with a placid look.

"Should you, as well as all the others of war and death, be pleased? And, as I recall, a god must not justify themselves to another, is that not true, The Morrigan?" River Eagle said coolly. The Morrigan tapped long fingers against the hilt of her sword in an irritated fashion. Finally, after what seemed to be a long debate with herself, The Morrigan grinned cruelly. A cold wind blew from the mortal realm as the beautiful warrior goddess turned into a withered, doubled over old crone dressed in rags. In her weathered hands she held a gnarled stick, which she thrust into the ground with a horrifying cackle.

"Well, well," she sneered, "at least I'll have me some fun!" she giggled wickedly before turning into a large raven and flying away; The Morrigan singing loudly for all in the mortal realm to hear… but alas, the realm had become deadened to belief, and her cry went unheeded…

"Why _did _you meddle, you old bird?" a voice asked. Turning, River Eagle saw a figure of a young man leaning against the trunk of an old oak tree. His arms were crossed, as were his ankles, and his head was turned away, giving River Eagle full view off the golden, sand blond wash of hair. He wore a blood red kimono and a pitch black samurai breastplate over his chest, in an odd solemnity; two katanas were fastened to his hip. River Eagle bowed his head.

"You, of all should know why I used the boy, you died, gave up six years in the mortal realm, to shape him to your liking…" the god swung his head around., teeth bared, blue eyes glinting in anger.

"No _more_, you old bird! You leave him alone! He is important! You know very well that the boy is the next! Shinigami is already howling about his heir! If he dies because of what you've done, they with have no more of you! They will throw you to the lions!" River Eagle shook his head.

"Calm yourself… You know very well that a 'next' can't die… 'Solo'…" River Eagle's smile was insincere. Solo reacted to it with a hard slap against Eagle's face.

"Shut your muzzle. I'm sick of hearing you speak. Solo is my mortal name. I am mortal no longer! You shall refer to me as Hachiman! I am the god of war… and you will show your respect…" Eagle shrugged.

"The gods do not live by mortal rules, Hachiman. While in the mortal realms some gods are more powerful than others, here, in this realm, all gods are equal. I must not refer to you as a superior, but as I please." Hachiman curled a tight fist as River Eagle turned to walk away.

"There are no gods," Hachiman hissed, "merely higher beings." Eagle looked over his shoulder.

"Perhaps… but then… you are the god of war…" and River Eagle vanished into a fold of space.

"Oh, and to answer your question," River Eagle's voice hung after, "you know what's coming just as I do… I merely thought the Tau'ri could use a little… help."

* * *

A/N: Servus

I am aware that a Japanese god would never have blond hair or blue eyes--sue me, if Duo couldn't recognize the former Solo it would be pointless to have him in the story. So if you want to see a great (as in size, not impressiveness) Duo Solo reunion then deal.

Also, I don't know any Indian/Native American gods at all—River Eagle is simply an Indian name, I think (stereotyping… -sigh-), and the description is of what I think a _humble_ (No bear fat! gasp) Native American Indian warrior would look like -shrug- it's really not my expertise. Jack is Graybear, by the way.

Ja Mata Ne

PS I'd like to thank all reviewers! The smallest gives me lots of encouragement! bows


End file.
